Forthcoming Events
World Cancer Day - 4th February 2026
Date: Wednesday 04th February 2026
Time: 09.00 to 23.30
World Cancer Day is an international day observed every 4 February to raise awareness about cancer, encourage its prevention, and mobilise action to address the global cancer epidemic. The day is led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and was established in the year 2000.
By catalysing personal, collective and government action, we are all working together to reimagine a world where millions of cancer deaths are prevented and access to life-saving cancer treatment and care is equitable for all no matter who you are and where you live.
Each year, hundreds of activities and events take place around the world, gathering communities, organisations and individuals in schools, businesses, hospitals, marketplaces, parks, community halls, places of worship - in the streets and online - acting as a powerful reminder that we all have a role to play in reducing the global impact of cancer.
UICC runs World Cancer Day campaigns in three-year cycles to allow for a deeper exploration of a particular theme and achieve greater impact.
The World Cancer Day theme 2025-2027, “United by Unique” places people at the centre of care and explores new ways of making a difference.
Cancer is more than just a medical diagnosis—it’s a deeply personal matter. Behind every diagnosis lies a unique human story - stories of grief, pain, healing, resilience, love and more.
That’s why a people-centred approach to cancer care that fully integrates each individual’s unique needs, with compassion and empathy, leads to the best health outcomes.
Every experience with cancer is unique and it will take all of us, united, to create a world where we look beyond the disease and see the person before the patient. A world where the needs of people and communities are at the centre of health systems.
For more information: About | World Cancer Day
Children's Mental Health Week
Date: Monday 09th February 2026 to Saturday 14th February 2026
Time: 09.00 to 23.00
This year, Children's Mental Health Week 2026 will take place from 9-15 February 2026!
Place2Be's official Children's Mental Health Week 2026 resources are available for you to download! Whether you're a primary school, secondary school, family, community group or workplace, we've got activities and resources for you.
The theme for Children's Mental Health Week 2026 is 'This is My Place', and our aim is to support the systems around children and young people to help them feel they belong.
Children's Mental Health Week takes place every February. It was started in 2015 to give a voice to all children and young people and to raise awareness of children and young people's mental health.
Volunteer Fair - Wednesday 11th February
Date: Tuesday 10th February 2026
Time: 08.00 to 16.00
From 1-4pm, join a whole host of Voluntary and Community sector organisations from Darlington and around the local area as they showcase what they can offer you as a prospective volunteer and how you can contribute to their work in amazing ways!
Volunteer Fair - Dolphin Centre, Darlington
World Hearing Day - 3rd March 2026
Date: Tuesday 03rd March 2026
Time: 09.00 to 23.30
From communities to classrooms: hearing care for all children - Act now so no child is left behind due to ear or hearing problems
Why focus on children’s hearing?
Globally, school-age children with hearing loss often remain undiagnosed and without access to needed services (World report on hearing, 2021). Hearing loss affects around 90 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 years, across all parts of the world (Global burden of disease study, 2021). However, it commonly remains undetected, especially in low-resource settings.
Common, preventable and treatable causes of hearing loss—such as otitis media with effusion (OME), chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM), and impacted ear wax—remain widely prevalent in children. At time, hearing loss begins insidiously but progresses and worsens over time.
Left unaddressed, this not only affects a child’s ability to hear but significantly impacts speech, language, cognitive and social development, commonly leading to poorer educational outcomes, reduced employment prospects and long-term economic disadvantages.
How?
This year, WHD highlights the theme "From communities to classrooms: hearing care for all children."
The campaign focuses on two imperatives:
- Preventing avoidable childhood hearing loss
- Ensuring early identification of and care for children with ear or hearing problems
Communities and classrooms are natural entry points to reach children, parents, and teachers. By integrating hearing care into school health and child health programmes, we can help children hear, learn, and succeed.
Mental Health Awareness Week: 11 - 17 May 2026
Date: Monday 11th May 2026 to Sunday 17th May 2026
Time: 08.00 to 23.00
The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week 2026 is Action.
Our individual actions matter, and when we come together we are even more powerful. Taking even small actions can give us feelings of hope and make us feel less powerless.
Everyone has a role to play, and even small actions can make a big difference.
Action: for yourself, for someone else, for all of us
We’ve chosen Action as this year's theme because, while awareness is vital, real change comes when we take action too. Together, we’ve come a long way on mental health, but we can’t risk going backwards. There’s still much we can do to prevent people becoming unwell in the first place.
Interested?
Call us on: 01325 489999 or Email us
How you can support us
As a local organisation we very much rely on the support of our local community. We support over 2,000 people every year to have greater choice and control and remove the barriers that disabled adults and children experience in their everyday lives. But we need YOUR help.